“The Trump administration quickly banned travel from China, to be sure, but failed to use any time that move bought to prepare for the inevitability that the disease would spread in the United States. They ignored the advice of public health experts warning them to ramp up testing, ignored warnings from doctors on the ground that things were getting bad, and failed to tell Americans that social distancing was necessary before it was (arguably) too late.”
– Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent at Vox
Trump tweeted comparisons to the common flu. He called concerns about the virus a “hoax.” He said on national television that, based on nothing more than a self-admitted “hunch,” the death rate of the disease is much lower than public health officials projected. And in February, he said of the coronavirus …
“One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
(Zack Beauchamp. “The deep ideological roots of Trump’s botched coronavirus response.” Vox. March 17, 2020.)
And, of course in these divisive times, the conservative media was quick to back the administration, dismissing concerns raised by public health experts as a plot designed to hurt the president’s reelection. Thus, a right-wing media infrastructure has worked overtime to cover for the president and paint the coronavirus as some kind of liberal plot to unseat him.
The truth is Trump directly impeded efforts to fight the disease beginning years before the outbreak, when he eliminated the department of the National Security Council which would have been responsible for pandemic preparedness.
Aja Romano, culture staff writer for Vox, reported, “He likewise worked to erode the CDC’s budget and autonomy, and when the outbreak began, he allowed petty internal infighting to take precedence over swift and effective responsiveness.”
(Aja Romano. “A new investigation reveals Trump ignored experts on Covid-19 for months.” Vox. April 12, 2020.)
Trump and his enablers have accomplished something far more dangerous than trying to run a government on gut feeling and conspiracy theories. Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters, said …
“They (Trump and his supporters) have, by attacking sources of authoritative knowledge beyond the president himself, inoculated a huge swath of the American public against ever being informed about anything, providing millions of Americans with a resistance to learning that will long outlive his administration.”
(Tom Nichols. “In Trump’s World, Reality Is Negotiable.” The Atlantic. January 13, 2019.)
Trump knew in early February, before the first known U.S. death from COVID-19, that the new coronavirus could be transmitted through the air and was deadlier than the seasonal flu. He told journalist Bob Woodward in a February 7 call …
“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff.”
At the time, Trump was telling Americans that the U.S. was in little danger and that the outbreak would soon go away on its own. Asked about those statements in March, Trump said …
"I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."
(Brenda Goodman, MA. “Report: Trump Downplayed COVID Threat.” WEBMD HEALTH NEWS. September 09, 2020.)
According to fact-checking by The Washington Post, the president said that the virus will go away on its own 31 times in the first 3 months of 2020. And, oh, by the way, Trump also falsely claimed he did not downplay the coronavirus pandemic at a town hall on September 15, saying, “Actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.”
Then on September 21, just hours before the U.S. death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 200,000, President Donald Trump was once again downplaying the risks of the disease.
At a campaign rally in Ohio, Trump said coronavirus "affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that's what it really affects. That's it."
He also doubled down on previous claims that young people are "virtually immune," this time saying "take your hat off to the young because they have a hell of an immune system."
Trump briefly paused before adding …
"It affects virtually nobody."
(Tara Subramaniam and Holly Yan, “'It affects virtually nobody': Fact-checking Trump's continued efforts to downplay the risks of coronavirus.” CNN. September 22, 2020.)
Public health experts had hoped that President Trump – subdued by his own infection with the coronavirus and the many cases that have erupted among his staff in October – would act decisively to persuade his supporters that wearing masks and social distancing were essential to protecting themselves and their loved ones.
Not so. Gina Kolata and Roni Caryn Rabin of The New York Times reported …
“But instead, tweeting on Monday (October 5) from the military hospital where he has been receiving state-of-the-art treatment for Covid-19, the president yet again downplayed the deadly threat of the virus.
“'Don’t be afraid of Covid,' he wrote. 'Don’t let it dominate your life.' When he arrived at the White House a few hours later, Mr. Trump removed his mask before joining several masked people inside. The president was probably still contagious, as many patients can pass on the virus for up to 10 days after symptoms begin.
(Gina Kolata and Roni Caryn Rabin. “‘Don’t Be Afraid of Covid,’ Trump Says, Undermining Public Health Messages.” The New York Times. October 08, 2020.)
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical School, called the president’s message “dangerous” because it encouraged his followers to ignore basic recommendations to keep themselves safe. Schaffner said …
“It will lead to more casual behavior, which will lead to more transmission of the virus, which will lead to more illness, and more illness will lead to more deaths.”
Trump’s tweet may lead some people to believe that Covid is on the decline, when in reality, it’s still largely uncontrolled in the United States, and numbers have been rising, experts said.
Why Does a U.S. President Ignore Public Health Experts?
Some say Trump wants to quickly reopen the economy and will risk herd immunity to do so. Well, researchers have uncovered much, much more than worries about production and consumption at the heart of his reluctance to follow science.
An investigation by The New York Times has revealed that experts and administration officials tried to warn Trump of the serious nature of the coronavirus pandemic early on. Alerts from high-ranking government experts began as far back as January, six weeks before his administration finally sprang into action on March 16, when he issued concrete guidelines for the public.
Why the delay? The report paints a portrait of Trump as being swayed by things like petty politics, one-upmanship, advice from his uninformed business associates, and his annoyance at inconsequential conspiracy theories, rather than the strenuous and sustained advice of experts.
(Aja Romano. “A new investigation reveals Trump ignored experts on Covid-19 for months.” Vox. April 12, 2020.)
Trump continues to throw his political tantrum, complete with lies, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. He rails against intellectuals and learned experts because they dismiss his wild coronavirus cures and rash, unsupported health advice. Trump continues to defy experts to get reelected while pandering to his base, a largely White Nationalist group mainly identified by the following characteristics as taken from an investigative article in 2016:
They Didn’t Go to College
They Don't Think They Have a Political Voice
They Want to Wage an Interior War Against Outsiders
They Live in Parts of the Country With Racial Resentment
(Derek Thompson. “Who Are Donald Trump's Supporters, Really?” The Atlantic. March 01, 2016.)
Trump understands that this base actually likes his insults and right-wing populism. Strong partisan polarization was one of the main aspects of the election results in 2016. He constantly pushes his media image with stunts like holding the Bible at St. John's Church and taking a joyride around Walter Reed. Of the mounting COVID-19 death toll, Trump casually dismisses the figure by saying: “It is what it is.”
(Rebecca Shabad. “'It is what it is': Trump in interview on COVID-19 death toll in U.S.” NBC News. August 04, 2020.)
Is is said most of Trump's base would still vote for him even if he shot someone on 5th Avenue. (Trump's comment in 2016: "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters.") The loyalty and strength of those very voters will be tested in November as the people decide whether Trump's inadequate and reckless response to COVID-19 will cost him the presidency.
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